This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 17, 2023 - April 23, 2023
Notable filings
For the week of April 3 to 7, notable shareholding changes at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included those at Fitters Diversified Bhd, which saw PDZ Holdings Bhd executive director Ho Jien Shiung re-emerging as a substantial shareholder. Fitters offers fire-fighting solutions and is involved in property development, manufacturing of PVC-O pipes and renewable energy.
Ho first surfaced as a substantial shareholder in Fitters in March last year, holding 46.3 million shares or 7.62% equity interest following a private placement exercise, but ceased to be a substantial shareholder three months later.
According to recent bourse filings, Ho snapped up 12.95 million shares in Fitters on the open market on April 4, giving him a direct stake of 32.75 million shares, or 5.39%.
On April 7, Ho mopped up 12 million shares from the open market. He now directly owns 44.75 million shares, or a 7.36% stake.
The transacted price was not disclosed, but the counter traded at between seven and eight sen during the week in review. The acquisitions saw Ho forking out cash of about RM1.75 million to RM2 million.
Earlier, Fitters announced that it was seeking the approval of its minority shareholders for the ratification of its acquisitions of 12.14 million shares, or a 4.54% stake, in Computer Forms (Malaysia) Bhd (CFM), as well as 6.18 million CFM warrants, or a 4.78% stake, for a combined RM34.78 million. The proposed ratification is expected to be completed by the second quarter of this year.
Bursa Securities had deemed the acquisitions of CFM shares and warrants to be related-party transactions, noting that Fitters and CFM have three common directors in Hoo Swee Guan, Wong Kok Seong and Kho See Yiing. Also, Datuk Seri Jacky Pang Chow Huat, who holds a 7.9% stake in Fitters, was until recently CFM’s largest and controlling shareholder.
Over at Padini Holdings Bhd, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Board ceased to be a substantial shareholder after it disposed of 522,000 shares on the open market on April 4. Prior to that, on April 3, the fund had 33.4 million shares, or a 5.08% stake, in the fashion retailer. The EPF Board first emerged as a substantial shareholder in October 2018.
The transacted price was not disclosed, but the counter closed at RM4.03 on April 4. Its share price had risen 17.16% year to date (YTD).
Meanwhile, an April 3 Bursa filing shows that supply chain management company MMAG Holdings Bhd disposed of 100 million shares in Ingenieur Gudang Bhd, formerly known as Dynaciate Group Bhd, via a direct business transaction. This brings MMAG’s direct stake to 182.92 million shares, or a 17.63% stake.
MMAG has been paring down its shareholding in the construction and property group since March. It first emerged as a substantial shareholder in March 2021 through the subscription of private placement shares.
Ingenieur Gudang’s share price had fallen by 4.55% YTD to close at 10.5 sen last Tuesday, valuing the company at RM104.01 million.
Notable movements
The share price of Hextar Industries Bhd has declined 35.9% so far this year, hitting a 52-week low of 31.5 sen on June 27, 2022, before recovering to close at 50 sen last Tuesday, valuing the group at RM1.37 billion.
Bursa filings on Hextar Industries during the week in review show its largest shareholder, Datuk Eddie Ong Choo Meng, acquired 1.49 million shares via the open market. On April 5, he sold 125 million shares through Hextar Holdings Sdn Bhd, the private investment vehicle of Ong and his family.
As at April 7, he directly held 16.43 million shares, or a 0.598% stake, in Hextar Industries and indirectly owned 1.84 billion shares, or 67.08% equity interest, through Hextar Holdings.
Electrical and mechanical engineering services provider Kejuruteraan Asastera Bhd (KAB), which is in the midst of changing its name to Kinergy Advancement Bhd, saw its share price drop 4.41% over the past month. YTD, the counter declined 18.75% to settle at 32.5 sen last Tuesday, valuing the company at RM587.6 million.
Filings show that KAB’s second largest shareholder, Kington Tong Kum Loong, had offloaded 32 million shares on April 5 and then acquired 10 million shares the following day. Post-transactions, Tong has a direct stake of 367.4 million shares, or 20.32% equity interest, and an indirect stake of 6.49 million shares, or 0.36% equity interest, through Regalis Investment Ltd.
On March 31, KAB postponed its extraordinary general meeting slated for April 14 to April 27 to vote on its acquisition of Sarawak Cable Bhd’s Indonesia-based hydropower plant operating unit PT Inpola Mitra Elektrindo for RM75 million. This forms part of KAB’s plan to diversify into the sustainable energy solutions business.
Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.
P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.